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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26657434">Sea Near the Snow</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinNox_Writes/pseuds/ErinNox_Writes'>ErinNox_Writes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hollow Knight (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, Fluff, Inspired by Stag Beetles and Broken Legs, Light Angst, M/M, Quirrel and Lemm are in Snowy Shore, Suicidal Thoughts, gay bugs, it's just a soft moment between these two, no one is actually suicidal, or really, the implication of them</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:13:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,413</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26657434</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinNox_Writes/pseuds/ErinNox_Writes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lemm and Quirrel are in Snowy Shore. Quirrel overlooks the city at night.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Inspired by and set after the events of Stag Beetles and Broken Legs by Aryashi and relationshipcrimes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Relic Seeker Lemm &amp; Quirrel (Hollow Knight), Relic Seeker Lemm/Quirrel (Hollow Knight)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>88</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sea Near the Snow</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/17400464">Stag Beetles and Broken Legs</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aryashi/pseuds/Aryashi">Aryashi</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/relationshipcrimes/pseuds/relationshipcrimes">relationshipcrimes</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Stag Beetles and Broken Legs is a wonderful fic that you should read. This is supposed to take place after the end of that fic, and while the characters do mention events from the fic, this can be read alone.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Quirrel stands on the edge of the precipice, looking out over the lights of the snowy city. The tower they’re staying at has balconies without railings, which would be concerning, but Quirrel can handle himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After all, he’s come a long way since the edge of the Lake, and he has none of the notions here that he did there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He can see the sea from here. It’s truly amazing how this town, covered in snow, still has an open beach, with sand as white as the sky on a cloudy day. There is no snow along the coast, though it touches the very ground underneath Quirrel’s feet. He is barely a mile from the shore, yet he is in a whole other world from its waters, which know not of the icy mounds of soft flakes that cover every inch of available surface on land. Quirrel doesn’t know how cold the ocean is, but he has seen the denizens of Snowy Shore hop into it without a care, so he assumes it’s not nearly as cold as it should be.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Just another delightful yet mysterious aspect about this place they are visiting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He looks down, to the ground underneath the building. There are no vehicles nor carrier bugs in the roads of Snowy Shore, and lanterns line the pathways that are meticulously cleaned of snow. The lanterns do not contain lumaflies, like the ones in Hollownest, but they glow just as bright, creating clear walkways weaving throughout the tall, tall buildings of the city. He watches a few bugs walk slowly along the roads, though with it being so long after sunset, the sightseers are few in number. Quirrel has found the bugs here to be particularly meticulous about their schedules, and only those truly privileged or working late, late hours are out after dark.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s much different than Hallownest, this place, but Quirrel loves it. Discovering places that are new and different is the whole point of traveling, after all. He’s even more glad now that he has something to share the dusty roads with.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Quirrel?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ah, speak of the devil-bug.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Quirrel turns his head around just enough to catch a glimpse of Lemm standing in the doorway to the balcony, one hand on the wall. Quirrel smiles, turning back around to look out over the city. “Ah, hello love,” he says.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lemm does not say anything for a moment. “What are you doing?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Observing the city. It’s so beautiful up here, so high above the ground. Everything below me looks so small. I do feel like I could get lost in myself if I stayed standing up here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Suddenly, he feels a hand on his arm, and he turns, looking into Lemm’s uncharacteristically worried face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Quirrel’s smile falls. “What’s wrong, love?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lemm’s eyes are trained on the edge of the balcony, looking down over the side. He’s frowning, and his eyes are wide with concern. “You don’t—” he begins, then stops himself, eyes narrowing. “Can you come here, please?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Obediently, Quirrel allows Lemm to drag him several feet away from the ledge. “Lemm,” he says, worry growing in his own mind at his partner’s expression, “what’s wrong?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Lemm turns his head away from the side, taking Quirrel’s hand. He pulls them both into their room, then shuts the door to the balcony behind them. Once he’s done that, he sighs, much of the tension easing from his shoulders. Quirrel waits for him to collect himself, worrying his lower lip. Lemm finally looks up at him, his gaze not as clouded in worry, but a look of caution still very present in his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lemm?” Quirrel tests, keeping his voice low. Whatever Lemm is worried about, he doesn’t want to add to, but Lemm has made </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span> nervous now, and he wants to be sure nothing is wrong. There’s an instinctual part of him that wants to grab for his nail, which he knows is still beside their bed, but he doesn’t want to be too hasty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Relic Seeker darts his eyes to the side, then to Quirrel, then back to the side again. “You weren’t…” He sighs again, struggling over his words. When he speaks again, he drops his voice low, low enough that Quirrel has to lean forward to catch it all. “You weren’t thinking about jumping off, were you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Immediately, Quirrel’s stomach sinks. “Oh.” So that was what Lemm was worried about. He saw Quirrel standing over the edge, looking down, and he thought…he…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It’s not too irrational a leap. It was only after they left Hallownest that Quirrel had finally admitted what his intentions had been when Lemm had first found him at the Blue Lake. It wasn’t a surprise, they both knew what he had been doing, but finally saying it, out loud, and owning up to his thought process had been freeing for Quirrel. Lemm had nodded and listened to his words and held him when it finally became too much. In the morning after, when they awoke still wrapped in an embrace, Lemm had made him promise, in a deathly serious tone Quirrel had never heard before, to talk to him if any of those feelings ever arose again. Quirrel agreed, and the next day of travel was wholly spent with their hands clasped together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Quirrel didn’t know fully how Lemm thought about the situation, but from the tone his partner had used that morning, he came to a conclusion that he very much did not want that to happen again. Neither did Quirrel, but the promise was an assurance, a solidified contract stating that Quirrel’s intentions were, at the moment of the promise, never to attempt it again. Lemm being the bug he loved, Quirrel was happy to give that over to him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which brought clarity to the situation now. If Quirrel </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> been thinking about throwing himself over the ledge, even just as a thought experiment, it would have been a violation of the promise. Of Lemm’s trust. Of the sanctity of that morning. Quirrel would have betrayed him, even a small act that would, theoretically, be only hurting himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Quirrel looked at Lemm, now seeing that flash of hurt in his eyes. Lemm is a private person, he knows. Lemm isn’t a people person. Lemm doesn’t open up easily.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>To see him now, bristling at the notion that the one person he loves most has broken his trust, makes something inside Quirrel twist with guilt. He shouldn’t worry his partner. He’s done that </span>
  <em>
    <span>enough</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thinks, suddenly very aware of the half-mask on his face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He swallowed, and then he shook his head, trying to come up with the words that would convince Lemm that that was not what he was thinking, that he was only admiring the city’s beauty, that he has put that part of himself </span>
  <em>
    <span>behind</span>
  </em>
  <span> him, left it to die in Hallownest with Monomon and with the old kingdom.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It wasn’t,” he says to the Relic Seeker. “I promise you, love, it wasn’t. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I</span>
  </em>
  <span> wasn’t.” He reaches out to touch Lemm’s arm, and Lemm lets him. He slides his hand down until his gripping Lemm’s fingers, trying to convey his sincerity through his squeeze. “I swear on the gods.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There’s a beat, and then Lemm nods shakily. “Okay, okay, I believe you,” he says, and Quirrel barrels forward instantly, wrapping his arms around his beloved. Lemm accepts the hug, his hands digging into Quirrel’s carapace, and they embrace each other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Quirrel says, feeling as though he still needs to assure his partner. “I’m sorry I scared you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I forgive you,” Lemm tells him. “I just…wanted to make sure. I remember when you would do that same stare in my shop, not speaking for hours, and I…I began to wonder if one day I’d wake up and you’d be gone, back to the Blue Lake, leaving the place clean and spotless like you’d never even been there in the first place.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Quirrel buries his face into Lemm’s shoulder, smiling but feeling his heart grip with emotion. “I’m sorry,” he says again, quieter and muffled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t. That was forever ago. You don’t have to apologize now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I never want to make you worry,” Quirrel tells him. “I love you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The Relic Seeker chuckles, though there is sadness in it, and Quirrel feels the vibrations against his carapace. He falls silent, and several still seconds pass.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I love you, too.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>My first Hollow Kight fic! I recently dove headfirst into this fandom, and I have refused to claw myself out. After reading SBaBL, I realized there aren't that many Lemm/Quirrel fics out there, so I decided to write one. This should be one of many, but I've never been good at keeping up with those kinds of things. Thank you for reading.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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